TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[Milburn Stone]

51 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Seems not to be.  I "cheated" and looked it up on IMDB and Wikipedia. 

Anyway, it seems to be trying to capitalize on the popularity of Pasternak's Where the Boys Are...

I forgot Pasternak did WtBA. I was basing my guess on the panoply of musical acts, and in particular the inclusion of the arguably mid-high-brow Liberace. Pasternak was famous for force feeding a little "culture" to the masses, with such as Jose Iturbi and Lauritz Melchior turning up out of nowhere (and sometimes getting roles in the plot). (And before them, making a star of Deanna Durbin.)

BTW, the IMDB on Sam Katzman credits him with inventing the word "beatnik."

 

[Bastet]

21 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

This may be all you want to watch of When the Boys Meet the GIrls. 

Yep, I think I'm good.

Edited January 17 by Bastet

[PaulaO]

DVR is set to record WTBMTG…..

[SomeTameGazelle]

On 1/16/2024 at 8:45 PM, Rinaldo said:

Oh, I think anyone curious about the evolution of popular music in the 1960s needs to see When the Boys Meet the Girls. You get the big Gershwin songs from Girl Crazy, of which this is the third movie version (and which would eventually become the source for Crazy for You), done in what then seemed appropriate style -- loungey easy-listening -- and then the current acts doing their thing (Herman's Hermits even do "Bidin' My Time"), and then some unclassifiable performers like Liberace. And though it's weird and a mess, it's far from horrific, I find that it goes down easily if one is ready for it.

Talk about "Treat Me Rough"! I won't say that I was disappointed because my expectations had been set so low, but I found myself scratching my head an awful lot with this one.

The opening scene where it appears that Danny's college has a tradition of a drag revue but he shows up with a troupe of chorus girls to replace them on the theory that the men's rehearsal had been bad.

The sped-up horse.

Danny singing "Embraceable You" 30 seconds after meeting Ginger so that it has no real emotional impact on the audience (but it influences her to put on a more "feminine" outfit somehow?).

Herman's Hermits singing "Bidin' My Time" juxtaposed with the college students (who are supposedly actively and successfully building Ginger's new dude ranch) just sitting around looking cute. And Peter Noone's insistence on singing "that's the kind of guy I am" instead of the elided rhyme "I'm".

Nothing musical or rhythmic prompting Danny to start singing "I've Got Rhythm".

In hindsight, wondering what was up with the title other than to remind Connie Francis fans of "Where the Boys Are". Danny certainly met Ginger and his friend whose name I don't know met Delilah, but other than that the only people introduced into the Nevada scene was the influx of divorcing women who seemed to be more middle-aged than girlish. And only one divorcee met a middle-aged man.

I can't say that any particular number delighted me much. I didn't mind Liberace, Louis Armstrong, or Herman's Hermits. I will have to get out my CD of Crazy for You.

 

I decided against recording Stage Fright today. I did watch a little bit toward the end. My favourite part is Marlene Dietrich telling Jane Wyman not to bore her with confidences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Charlie Baker]

Norman Jewison Dies at 97

A  long life and a terrific, diverse directing career.

[Wiendish Fitch]

9 minutes ago, Charlie Baker said:

Norman Jewison Dies at 97

A  long life and a terrific, diverse directing career.

Jewison was an incredibly gifted and versatile director. He made films that addressed social issues, but that still managed to be entertaining and so visually gorgeous and memorable. In the Heat of the Night and Fiddler on the Roof are two of my favorites of his. 

[Calvada]

So many wonderful movies from Norman Jewison - how will TCM decide which to include in their tribute to him?  I hope they include the episode of Private Screenings in which he was interviewed by Robert Osborne.  

[mariah23]

53 minutes ago, Calvada said:

So many wonderful movies from Norman Jewison - how will TCM decide which to include in their tribute to him?  I hope they include the episode of Private Screenings in which he was interviewed by Robert Osborne.  

That interview was wonderful.  Especially the story when the team behind The Fiddler on the Roof wanted Jewison to direct the film adaptation because they thought he was Jewish.  “What if I told you that I was a goy (is that the right word?)?”

[EtheltoTillie]

Tonight’s Noir Alley was good. Woman in Hiding, with Ida Lupino. 

[mariah23]

And we’re back!!! 
 

In the news:  TCM Remembers Carl Weathers and Don Murray.

[Charlie Baker]

Glad we're back!

There's been some noteworthy stuff on TCM--the Power of Film docuseries is interesting, there were Black History Month-related titles, an evening tribute to Elaine May, with a recent interview.  The American Masters documentary on Nichols and May was still on Watch TCM last time I checked, even if her movies are no longer there. 

Dave Karger has a new book out, 50 Oscar Nights, in which he interviews winners about their experiences the night of. 

[bmoore4026]

Watching the Judy Garland version of A Star is Born.  It's so troubling that Vicki is willing to give up her career to take care of Norman.  It's like she blames herself for how far he's fallen and she must atone.  And then she's berated for not going back to being a star and being told that Norman died for nothing if she doesn't go back.  It guess it's just my modern sensibility, but this is so unfair to her. 

Oh, and Judy Garland was robbed of a Best Actress Oscar.

Edited February 9 by bmoore4026

[Milburn Stone]

7 hours ago, bmoore4026 said:

Watching the Judy Garland version of A Star is Born.  It's so troubling that Vicki is willing to give up her career to take care of Norman. 

I think it's not just a matter of "things were different then." The movies have always sold an idealized version of love, and we have always eagerly eaten it up, because we want so badly to believe. The idealized version of love that the movies are selling now is different in some particulars, is all.

[Rinaldo]

8 hours ago, bmoore4026 said:

Oh, and Judy Garland was robbed of a Best Actress Oscar.

As a general rule, I try not to think or say this sort of thing (many people are good in a given year, each role is its own challenge, etc. etc.), but this is a case where I find it unavoidable. And it's not that I'm anti- Grace Kelly -- she's indelible in several roles (Rear Window at the top of the list for me). But this is such a classic example of the Academy responding on cue to the "we thought she was just a pretty face, but look how she made herself look ordinary and act sad" scenario that's always good for at least a nomination. Does anyone remember The Country Girl for anything now? But we still watch A Star Is Born; for me it's the most memorable of the 4 (or 5, or 6) versions of the story. It's just a shame that we don't have the complete movie as initially released (or that Hart & Cukor didn't self-edit before filming). Yes, in this case I find it unavoidable that Judy Garland was robbed.

Edited February 9 by Rinaldo

[Rinaldo]

31 Days of Oscar began on Friday. This year they're organizing them by category, so that in general we get nominees for a category during the day (though to my eye the headings on the schedule word this a bit confusingly) and winners starting in primetime:

As always, there are a few TCM premieres, both older and more recent, including items like Crazylegs, Gosford Park, Adaptation., and The Triplets of Belleville.

Today (Sunday) is the second Supporting Actress day.

[Milburn Stone]

34 minutes ago, Rinaldo said:

(though to my eye the headings on the schedule word this a bit confusingly)

My eye sees the same logic error that yours does. No doubt Zaslov fired the manager-level editor who could have cleaned it up.

[Rinaldo]

... Or, on second thought, it may say exactly what they meant, and the occasional winner gets mixed in with nominees in the earlier part of each day. It may well be that they couldn't always get them to come out even, or that they could include more winners than could be fit in between 8 pm and 6 am. Case in point, Fay Bainter today, a winner for Jezebel despite the movie airing midmorning. I'll take back what I said before.

Of this evening's Supporting Actress winners, Anne Baxter in The Razor's Edge is a classic variation of the trope I mentioned a few comments back re Grace Kelly: let a beautiful young woman acquire a disease or an addiction and fall apart visually, and she'll get at least a nomination. Still the movie may be worth a look to those who've never seen it, because it's such an odd story for Hollywood to have attempted at all in that era -- a WWI vet looking for (and finding) transcendental meaning in the Himalayas (i.e., some rather cheesy matte paintings), while his more worldly friends go to pieces. I don't think it works at all (and it's beyond me why it was later remade with Bill Murray), but at least it has good-looking stars: Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney.

Following it, we have Cary Grant's pet project None But the Lonely Heart, a drama about an aimless working-class Londoner. Not at all a "Cary Grant" type of role, and I wish I could think that his earnestness added up to a compelling performance, but I can't (though it has its moments). Again I don't think it works as a whole. But Ethel Barrymore as his mother deserved her award.

[Milburn Stone]

16 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

(and it's beyond me why it was later remade with Bill Murray)

For some reason that version resonated with me. I don't know if it would today. But maybe.

[Rinaldo]

Well, the book itself has resonated with others in a way it doesn't with me, so I may just have a blind spot about this sort of thing. I have just dredged up a memory that The Razor's Edge was one of relatively few hardbound novels that my parents owned, possibly from before their marriage, and had kept on the bookshelf for a long time. So it probably meant something to them too. (I may try asking my mother; she turns 104 this month, and we Zoom twice a week.)

[EtheltoTillie]

2 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

she turns 104 this month, and we Zoom twice a week.)

Wow!  That's all . . .

[Charlie Baker]

The Country Girl is based on an OK, probably  middling Clifford Odets play, and the most memorable thing about the movie to me, having not seen it in years, was Bing Crosby's quite good dramatic performance.   Judy Garland in her peak performance on film not winning the Oscar is, as Groucho Marx quipped, "the biggest robbery since [the] Brink's" heist.

The Razor's Edge was part of Tyrone Power's lobbying to get more substantial projects at Fox, Nightmare Alley was another.  I think similarly Bill Murray's remake was a passion project for him. IMDB says his participation in the original Ghostbusters rested on this movie getting made first.

Best to your mother, @Rinaldo!

Edited February 12 by Charlie Baker
Don't want to misquote Groucho, goodness knows.

[Rinaldo]

4 hours ago, Charlie Baker said:

The Country Girl is based on an OK, probably  middling Clifford Odets play, and the most memorable thing about the movie to me, having not seen it in years, was Bing Crosby's quite good dramatic performance. 

Yes, the Odets play looks interesting on paper, and I have nothing against it. It's had some interesting stage productions. Originally the husband and wife were played by Uta Hagen and Paul Kelly. In the two Broadway revivals, they've been Maureen Stapleton / Jason Robards, then (in 2008) Frances McDormand / Morgan Freeman. Heavy hitters all, obviously, and I'd point out that in each case the actress wasn't a glamour figure pointedly "playing plain" which is what you get when you choose Grace Kelly for the part.

I agree that Bing Crosby does well with his share of the movie. One odd thing about the adaptation that I'd expect to be mentioned more often is that it's turned into a musical -- not in an Oklahoma! sense, but Crosby's character is making his comeback in a musical play, and we hear 4 newly written songs, some at more length than others. Even more oddly (I don't think I thought about it till this moment), the songwriters were the same pair who wrote the songs for A Star Is Born the same year: Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin.

I suppose if I say something like that about my mother, I must on some level have been expecting people to take notice of it! I don't think it was quite conscious when I was typing, but I have to admit, I do mention the fact to people when I can, so I guess I knew what I was doing. It's pretty cool, after all.

Edited February 13 by Rinaldo

[Amello]

I'm making my way through the Hammer Films' series of Frankenstein films and just finished the third one, The Evil of Frankenstein. Peter Woodthorpe playing the hypnotist constantly gave me similar vibes to Mark Ruffalo's character in Poor Things. The characters themselves have obvious differences, but I couldn't help but wonder if maybe Ruffalo got some of his inspiration from Woodthorpe's performance. Probably a long shot, but interesting to think about.

[bmoore4026]

Oh, Gosford Park.  One of my faves.  I love that it's more than a murder mystery but a look into the microcosm of the elites and the servants and, thanks to Julian Fellows' writing, the servants are more engaging characters.

Several scenes stand out like when Elsie talks back during the second dinner scene, "I say, that is not fair.  Bill-".  Just a few words and the masquerade is broken.  And the look that Kristen Scott Thomas' character gives her is chilling, as if she's thinking, "I'm flaying you alive in my mind."  Oh, what a good scene.

And I love the "Perfect Servant" monologue.  Delivered perfectly, but, then again, I wouldn't expect anything less from Helen Mirren.  And the second to last scene with her and Eileen Atkins is nothing short of amazing.  From what Fellows' said on the DVD commentary, those two completely ad-libbed the whole scene.  Now that's how you do acting.

I do feel bad for Ryan Phillipe.  He's a pretty good actor but he's never really had the chance to become bigger than he did.  I'm a bit disappointed in that.

One question, though: What did they mean that Lord and Lady Stockbridge "cut cards" for William?

[Milburn Stone]

6 hours ago, bmoore4026 said:

I do feel bad for Ryan Phillipe.  He's a pretty good actor but he's never really had the chance to become bigger than he did.  I'm a bit disappointed in that.

That is to be lamented. He had a juicy and prominent role as the baddie in one of the seasons of Damages (the great Glenn Close lawyer TV series) but nothing else pops into my mind at this hour of the morning.

[Rinaldo]

8 hours ago, bmoore4026 said:

One question, though: What did they mean that Lord and Lady Stockbridge "cut cards" for William?

I took it pretty literally although, as I recall, it was the two ladies who cut cards. It didn't really matter who paired off with whom, so they took a deck of cards, each cut it to expose a card, and the one who drew a high card got to choose.

I'm inordinately fond of Gosford Park myself. The whole insight into the workings of upstairs/downstairs. Screenwriter Julian Fellowes returned to the subject in Downton Abbey of course, but, as far as I'm concerned, he did it better here because he stuck to the point, with the minutiae themselves being the focus. And so much good acting that I'm not even going to try to list names. Okay, just one, because even in such heady company, Jeremy Northam stands out as Ivor Novello, gloriously embodying the glamorous star of stage and screen (he was not a professional singer, despite Wikipedia, and always wrote nonsinging roles for himself in his musicals, but I'm happy to believe that he informally "sang for his supper" at house parties like this one, and in fact maybe he did).

Gosford Park is also dear to me as a late-career triumph for Robert Altman, after a long career with its ups and downs, masterpieces and stinkers, but enough great achievements to secure his stature (for me: MASH though it's aged poorly, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, The Long Goodbye, Nashville, A Wedding, Popeye even with the bad songs, The Player, Cookie's Fortune, and this). Never a real box-office smash at any point. And after one might have expected him to wind down and rest on his laurels, he had one more big-ensemble extravaganza left in him, and all these British eminences were thrilled to get to be part of "an Altman."

[Charlie Baker]

Ryan Phillippe was in the ensemble of Crash, which I've never seen. but was very good in Kimberly Peirce's Stop/Loss, which I happened tp see as part of TCM's Women Make Film series a few years ago. He and Channing Tatum prove in that one they've got some chops.  Damages was a series that never quite got its due--strong stories filled with strong performances. 

Thank you for the Altman love, @Rinaldo.

[bmoore4026]

11 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

I took it pretty literally although, as I recall, it was the two ladies who cut cards. It didn't really matter who paired off with whom, so they took a deck of cards, each cut it to expose a card, and the one who drew a high card got to choose.

 

I think it's supposed to be a metaphor, like Lord and Lady Stockbridge go over potential investments and gave William the ones they thought were best.  Well, Lady Stockbridge would.  Her husband is something of a dolt.

Edited February 15 by bmoore4026

[Milburn Stone]

On 2/14/2024 at 9:25 AM, Rinaldo said:

...enough great achievements to secure his stature (for me: MASH though it's aged poorly, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, The Long Goodbye, Nashville, A Wedding, Popeye even with the bad songs, The Player, Cookie's Fortune, and this).

I'm so glad you didn't name Images. If you had, I would have been obliged to give it a second look, and I don't want to.

I think I've only seen 5 minutes of Popeye, and reached the conclusion "too weird for it's own good," but I'll have to consider giving it a shot.

All your others, I'm in complete agreement with, and I also liked California Split at the time.

[Rinaldo]

37 minutes ago, Milburn Stone said:

I'm so glad you didn't name Images. If you had, I would have been obliged to give it a second look, and I don't want to.

I think I've only seen 5 minutes of Popeye, and reached the conclusion "too weird for it's own good," but I'll have to consider giving it a shot.

All your others, I'm in complete agreement with, and I also liked California Split at the time.

I considered Images as I got to it chronologically, because I was susceptible to it at the time it came out (I saw it during my 1973 summer in London), but I think I then grew out of it. Shallow stuff that seemed deep to a 20-something in that era, like the 5 characters having the same first names as the actors, just reassigned, or the illusion-vs-reality stuff that (like other movie reliables) seems profound the first time you encounter it and don't realize how well-worn it is. (The same phenomenon as my obsession with Brewster McCloud in that same period.) I still would have a good word for John Williams's subtle score, half pastoral strings-and-piano, half modernistic percussion -- but I'm a student of film music, there's no reason for someone else to care.

I don't really recommend Popeye, and I can't excuse Harry Nilsson's inane songs. (When the cast unexpectedly sings "Popeye the Sailor Man" at the end, one's first reaction is "Finally, a good song.") I guess its quirks happen to fit my weird taste. Plus, I will say that in Olive Oyl, Shelley Duvall got the role she was born to play, and that the baby is really cute. But feel free to bypass it.

I liked California Split at the time too, just haven't felt moved to revisit it. For that matter, I think about half the vignettes in Short Cuts are good. Altman's stuff (at its best) somehow spoke to me in those years. There are also a couple of his titles that I've still not seen; I need to do something about that.

[Calvada]

I love Gosford Park.  From the opening scene to the end, it is sublime.  A feast of great actors and a fascinating look at the British class system in the 1930s and just when you think it can't be any better, the murder occurs and in walks Stephen Fry as the bumbling police inspector.  

[Charlie Baker]

I mentioned Altman's 3 Women here quite a while ago, so since we're discussing the man's work, and I like the titles listed here, including Popeye,  I'll throw it in again. He claimed he dreamed it, it's a weird, quirky meeting of his sensibility with Ingmar Bergman and has excellent work from Shelley Duvall, Sissy Spacek, and Janice Rule. 

 

[Rinaldo]

Coming up Sunday evening (10pm ET, as one of the Supporting Actor winners) is a TCM premiere, Adaptation. I mention it because the title doesn't really suggest the appeal it may have to those with oddball tastes like mine -- specifically, a taste for the meta and self-referential. I hope it'll get an introduction that explains some of the wacky background, but the Wikipedia article covers it: Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, commissioned to adapt the nonfiction book The Orchid Thief, submitting (without warning producers in advance) the story of his own difficulties in adapting it, including himself and his nonexistent identical twin, both of whom are credited with the screenplay, and the real-life participants in the book, given fictitious adventures. Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Brian Cox, Tilda Swinton, and others fully commit themselves to it all, and I find myself enjoying it every time I revisit it.

[bmoore4026]

On 2/15/2024 at 1:43 PM, Calvada said:

I love Gosford Park.  From the opening scene to the end, it is sublime.  A feast of great actors and a fascinating look at the British class system in the 1930s and just when you think it can't be any better, the murder occurs and in walks Stephen Fry as the bumbling police inspector.  

There's one very small bit that never fails to crack me up.  It's when the door opens in the library and he just leans in with his pipe in his mouth.  It's just so silly. 

And I just realized the hierarchy of the police department is similar to the upstairs/downstairs system as the inspector is dismissive the competent constable when he's pointing out the broken coffee cup and a muddy footprints but is dismissed on both even though they're important clues.  Talk about irony.  Also, the constable is also downstairs with the rest of the servants around the end of the movie. 

[bmoore4026]

Well, I saw The Triplets of Belleville today and thought it was utter delightful.  Seeing them, the grandmother, and the dog disguised as part of the mafia, along with the whole thing with hurrying to disguise the grandmother as the maintenance guy was hilarious.  I also loved the grandmother was so determined to rescued her grandson that she used a peddle boat to follow the cruise ship.  That's tenacity, right there.  And "Belleville Rendez-vous" is definitely and ear worm.

[bmoore4026]

Did Doris Day ever get a Best Actress nomination for The Man Who Knew Too Much?  Because, if she didn't, she was done wrong.  I've never seen this movie in full and she rocked!

Another thing I love about the movie is how vital "Que Sera Sera" is to the plot.  It's genius.

[Bastet]

10 minutes ago, bmoore4026 said:

Did Doris Day ever get a Best Actress nomination for The Man Who Knew Too Much?  Because, if she didn't, she was done wrong.  I've never seen this movie in full and she rocked!

No, she didn't.  I didn't think she'd ever been nominated for an Oscar, but I just looked it up and she was for Pillow Talk (but didn't win; French actor Simone Signoret did for Room at the Top).

14 minutes ago, bmoore4026 said:

Another thing I love about the movie is how vital "Que Sera Sera" is to the plot.  It's genius.

The song, on the other hand, did win.

[Charlie Baker]

I liked the story Dave told after the movie about Doris Day thinking she wasn't doing very well in the role; Hitchcock wasn't saying anything to her. She raised the prospect of leaving the movie if he wasn't happy with her work. He assured her she was doing fine, that she'd only hear from him if she wasn't. 

And I will slip in here once again that she should have been nominated for Love Me or Leave Me.

 

[bmoore4026]

Watching on On The Town right now and, Oooo, do Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Jules Munchin look nice in those sailor uniforms.

Also, saw The Harvey Girls.  Judy looked lovely in that Harvey Girl uniform.  And she knew how to get steak, so more power to her.

[Rinaldo]

On 2/20/2024 at 12:35 AM, bmoore4026 said:

Another thing I love about the movie is how vital "Que Sera Sera" is to the plot.  It's genius.

Very true. Watching from the back seat at the local drive-in theater, I was entranced by how important music was to the story: "Que Sera, Sera" obviously, and also the concert piece with a cymbal crash as camouflage for an assassin's gunshot. I guess even at about 10, my future was destined to be in music. (In general, within the standard 1950s plan of the kids dozing off for the second, "adult" feature, the Hitchcock movies were the ones that kept me awake the best. I hadn't quite made it through Rear Window (didn't really follow the internal subtleties), but this one, with the action and suspense that were easy for a young mind to follow, kept me involved to the end.

Now that I know the history of it all better (there's a whole book about music in Hitchcock's films), I'm impressed that Bernard Herrmann, certainly no shrinking violet in terms of protecting and promoting his own music, chose to reuse Arthur Benjamin's Storm Cloud Cantata from the earlier movie of which this is a remake; he did extend and reorchestrate it though. He also let other hands supply the important song.

And speaking of songs: yes, "Belleville Rendez-vous" is hard to get out of one's head. (I recorded TCM's airing just to hear that song again; haven't got around to watching yet.) I also remember the performance on that year's Oscars, complete with bicycle, being unlike anything we'd seen on the show before:

 

[bmoore4026]

Auntie Mame is on now.  I doubt it'll ever be remade, but if they did, who the hell could they get to play someone so vivacious and over the top as she was?

[HyeChaps]

Glenn Close

[Rinaldo]

22 hours ago, bmoore4026 said:

Auntie Mame is on now.  I doubt it'll ever be remade, but if they did, who the hell could they get to play someone so vivacious and over the top as she was?

There was talk about two decades ago of doing a TV movie of the musical version, Mame, back when a few such tele-remakes were proving to be popular, and sometimes even good. At the time, I recall the casting idea with the most staying power being Emma Thompson as Mame, with Bebe Neuwirth as Vera. 

[Milburn Stone]

I could see Parker Posey.

[Sarah 103]

5 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

There was talk about two decades ago of doing a TV movie of the musical version, Mame, back when a few such tele-remakes were proving to be popular, and sometimes even good. At the time, I recall the casting idea with the most staying power being Emma Thompson as Mame, with Bebe Neuwirth as Vera. 

Bebe Neuwirth as Vera is near perfect casting. 

[voiceover]

I remember trying to describe Moonstruck to friends who hadn’t yet seen it (“Like eating tiramisu with your fingers!”).  Sweet, messy, amazing.

It has everything: romance, transformation, the moon, Puccini.  And it’s soooo perfectly cast! from the neighborhood priest who hears Loretta’s confession (“What was that second one?” “ ‘Once I slept with the brother of my fiancé’…” “That’s a pretty big sin!”) to Rose, the neglected wife who finally figures it all out (“Cosmo, I just want you to know…no matter what you do, you’re gonna die, just like everybody else.”).

This time around I marveled at that jewel of a proposal scene in Act 1.   He was the wrong guy at the wrong time, but it was lovely, just the same.

[Charlie Baker]

Moonstruck is perfectly cast and has one of the most quotable scripts I can think of.

What about Allison Janney as Mame?  I think I would prefer her in the play as opposed to the musical, but she might be able to pull off the latter.

[Tom Holmberg]

On 2/24/2024 at 5:05 PM, bmoore4026 said:

Auntie Mame is on now.  I doubt it'll ever be remade, but if they did, who the hell could they get to play someone so vivacious and over the top as she was?

It was remade in 1974 with Lucille Ball and Bea Arthur.

[Bastet]

4 hours ago, Charlie Baker said:

What about Allison Janney as Mame?  I think I would prefer her in the play as opposed to the musical, but she might be able to pull off the latter.

She played Violet in the 9 to 5 musical on Broadway fifteen years ago.  I didn't see it, but she got a Tony nomination for it.

[voiceover]

10 hours ago, Charlie Baker said:

 

Moonstruck […] has one of the most quotable scripts I can think of.

 

You’re really teeing it up for me, Charlie 🤣

Of course, you’re right.  I’m thinking of the last scene in particular:

”Somebody tell a joke!”

” ‘In time’ you’ll drop dead, and I’ll come to your funeral in a red dress!”

”Do you love him, Loretta?”  “Ma, I love him awful!”  “Oh God that’s too bad.”

I’ll stop.